Video
“¿Música, que?”
While my family and friends were freezing in their respective U.S. states, I stepped out of a plane and into the sunshine of a Peruvian summer. Having been pretty productive during December, I wanted to continue my productivity during the month of January. This wasn’t hard to do, especially when your roommates constantly bombard you with information that might be helpful for your project. It was through my roommate, Ibis, that I found out about Gabriel Alegria’s Afro-Peruvian Jazz Sextet.
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One Run At A Time
While my first two months in Peru had been pretty adventure packed, November turned out to be a lot slower. Not only was I not as busy meeting musical artists, during the month of November Afro-Peruvian musical performances weren’t as prevalent either. Since the musical scene wasn’t as active as I had hoped, I decided to dive into intense research mode. But before I did, I decided to run my first 10k. Running in Lima is no easy feat, especially given the hectic driving, but for this 10K traffic was stopped for an hour and a half, from 7pm to 9:30pm. That’s right, the race took place at night. Although I’ve been running for a while I still wasn’t sure what to expect. I soon learned that when you run, and ten thousand other people run with you, your legs don’t feel like stopping. And when you do, you realize how much better it would feel if you could minimize the amount of time your feet touch the ground, so you keep running. Once I completed the race I was ready to immerse myself in music and books.
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Microbus The City
Living in Peru is like constantly trying to piece together a puzzle, only your puzzle pieces constantly change and you realize that it doesn’t matter what pieces you connect because one way or another it’ll all work. This is how I first felt upon my arrival to Lima. It was this vast expanse and everyday I tried to have it all figured out, my housing, work, running paths, but you realize that the city moves as fast and uncontrollably as the micro-buses that zip through its streets, and while planning is good, sometimes you just have to be.
My knowledge of Spanish helped me communicate to a certain extent, yet it was also the one thing that set me apart from the Limeños of the city. I knew that Spanish accents vary from country to country yet I didn’t realize how different Mexican and Peruvian accents can be. Fortunately these differences in language helped spark conversations between me and people from many walks of life in Lima, and during each of these conversations I made sure to bring up the topic of Afro-Peruvian music. And almost all of the people I spoke to, whether it be a restaurant owner, cab driver, or my landlord, had something to say about this musical genre.
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If My Eyes Could Sing
What role does Music play in our world? How can a story change lives? Check out this trailer for the upcoming documentary film, If My Eyes Could Sing, from Jon Haas. Following my concept music album project entitled Stories of AIDS through Music, this film attempts to offer a voice for those that are oft-ignored. Through the lens of music, witness a message of hope. If My Eyes Could Sing, this is what you’d hear.
Tangier-America Day! (and my 1st academic conference, ever)
As it happened, the US Cultural Attaché in Morocco caught Nacim and Zakaria’s performance at the Fulbright Symposium (see previous post for videos). A week later, the American Embassy in Rabat contacted me to help organize a fusion performance for Tangier-America Day in – you guessed it – Tangier. I happily obliged. The idea was to showcase American and Moroccan collaboration, so we brought together Nacim Haddad, Zakaria Aktoui, Aicha (a Watson Fellow from the States/phenomenal singer), and myself. Aicha brought a soul-stirring addition of jazz vocals and spoken word to a Gnawa 3-piece band: Nacim on the haj houj, Zakaria on the qraqeb, and yours truly on the tabla (hand drums). The result was quite a spectacle (YES, that was a double entendre in French!), and we even had the honor of playing for the US Ambassador, Samuel Kaplan, and his wife Sylvia. Believe it or not, Zakaria did his first ever Gnawa toe touch less than a foot away from them. Check it out. Oh yeah, we called ourselves Gnawa Voyageur…and Zakaria and I just might be the greatest dance duo in Tangier-America Day history (see video 3).
Here’s the opener, a variation on “Bu Lila. Aicha comes in with the 2nd chorus on English:
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Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. In addition to presenting unique projects on music as a global force for mutual understanding. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.